The present invention relates generally to medical devices and more particularly to guide wires.
Often elongated, flexible guide wires are used to gain access to specific inner areas of the body. The guide wire may enter the body through a small opening and travel to parts of the body through body channels. For example, guide wires may be passed through the body via peripheral blood vessels, gastrointestinal tract, or the urinary tract, and guide wires are currently used in cardiology, gastroenterology, urology, and radiology. Once the guide wire is at a target site in the body, guide wires are commonly used as guides for the introduction of additional medical instruments such as catheters.
Body channels are often tortuous, so the guide wire may be difficult to navigate through the channels. Guide wires generally have a distal portion that has a fixed shape that is either straight or curved. The fixed shape distal portion can be difficult to traverse body channels. In particular, moving the guide wire into a branch section of a body channel can be difficult with a fixed shape. Accordingly, further improvements and enhancements for guide wires are desirable.